Dozens Arrested For Violating Order At Abortion Clinic Protesters Rally In Melbourne

April 11, 1993|The Washington Post

MELBOURNE -- Dozens of protesters, some of them recent graduates of a 12- week course in anti-abortion tactics, were arrested on Saturday after they violated a judge`s order to keep away from a clinic in Melbourne.

One by one, the abortion protesters, led by Operation Rescue leader Keith Tucci, approached the clinic to pray or wave placards, thereby violating tough new restrictions designed to stop them from interfering with the clinic`s patients and staff.

Saturday`s protests were attended by national leaders from both sides of the abortion battle, in a stylized showdown played out in front of cameras and reporters.

The anti-abortion activists were kept from blockading the clinic by an even greater number of abortion rights supporters, many of them students or retirees from all over Florida, who locked arms and formed a human picket around the clinic.

Abortion protesters would approach the clinic, walk back and forth in front of the abortion rights activists, and then go limp when police, who said ``please, sir`` and ``yes, ma`am,`` would lift them up and place them on gurneys, to be rolled to a waiting bus. There they were handcuffed, photographed and arrested.

With his children at his side, seemingly employed both as symbol and shield, Tucci was among 50 protesters arrested by police for violating Florida Circuit Judge Robert McGregor`s order to stay at least 36 feet away from the Aware Woman Clinic`s property line.

``The judge`s order is outrageous and wrong. To say that people can`t pray in public? To sing hymns? It violates the First Amendment,`` Tucci said on Friday night, moments before he spoke to about 200 people gathered for a rally in Melbourne at the Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.

After years of harassment and protest, the Aware Woman Clinic on Thursday secured a permanent injunction that prohibits abortion protesters from shouting, chanting, singing and sign-waving if it interferes with clinic business, while ordering protesters not to impede traffic or block entrances.

``It`s just wonderful. It was a long time coming,`` said Ruth Arick of the Feminist Majority, a national group that has been training abortion rights supporters in ``clinic defense`` tactics in Melbourne.